After a Strong Rise Supported by the BOE's Dovish Guidance, EUR/GBP Floats Above 0.8700

Following Thursday's trading above the important resistance level of 0.8700, the EUR/GBP pair is exhibiting range-bound behavior during the Tokyo session. After the Bank of England (BOE) sounded dovish on policy advice and the European Central Bank (ECB) announced a hawkish forecast for interest rates, market participants engaged in aggressive cross buying.

As expected, BOE Governor Andrew Bailey increased interest rates by 50 basis points (bps) to 3.25 percent. The inflation rate in the United Kingdom is in double digits, and the struggle against persistent inflation will continue for an extended period; hence, policy tightening is essential.

As direction for future monetary policy actions, the BOE noted that "the majority of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) feels that more bank rate increases may be necessary." The British pound has been subjected to great pressure due to the lack of clarity surrounding future policy tightening. Voting on the interest rate decision, policymakers supported the status quo because they regarded the current interest rate policy to be adequate for fighting inflation.

As predicted, ECB President Christine Lagarde raised interest rates by 50 basis points in relation to the Eurozone. Due mostly to rising food prices, the Eurozone's central bank expects inflation to remain well above its 2% target for a lengthy period of time. The ECB has upped its interest rate peak forecast because it anticipates two additional 50 basis point rate hikes.

The release of Retail Sales statistics for the United Kingdom will be significant for future forecasting. According to the forecasts, the yearly economic statistics (Nov) would likely decline by 5.6% compared to the previously reported 6.1% decrease. While the monthly data will decline from 0.6% to 0.3%, they were 0.6% in the previous report.